For those of you with plans of relocating to Tampa, it will surely please you to know that Tampa is one smart city, and not only a smart city, but considered by Movoto as the 6th Smartest City in the U.S.
The ranking is not just by some analysts’ perceptions, but based on six criteria, namely universities and colleges per resident, libraries per resident, education level, media per resident, museums per resident, and public school rank. Media means TV, newspapers, radio and magazines.
Here are the top 20 smartest cities, based on the above criteria:
| Rank City | Average Rank for 6 Criteria |
| 1. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | 14.67 |
| 2. Orlando, Florida | 16.33 |
| 3. Washington, D.C. | 16.5 |
| 4. Atlanta, Georgia | 17.17 |
| 5. Honolulu, Hawaii | 17.83 |
| 6. Tampa, Florida | 19.83 |
| 7. Seattle, Washington | 20 |
| 8. San Francisco, California | 21.33 |
| 9. Cincinnati, Ohio | 21.83 |
| 10. Miami, Florida | 22.33 |
| 11. Portland, Oregon | 23.33 |
| 12. Boston, Massachusetts | 24.67 |
| 13. Saint Paul, Minnesota | 25 |
| 14. Saint Louis, Missouri | 26.17 |
| 15. Minneapolis, Minnesota | 26.67 |
| 16. New Orleans, Louisiana | 28 |
| 17. Baton Rouge, Louisiana | 28.33 |
| 18. Madison, Wisconsin | 29.17 |
| 19. Denver, Colorado | 33 |
| 20. Rochester, New York | 33.5 |
We can see from the list that Tampa is one of 3 Florida cities in the Top Ten, following Orlando, which ranked second, and preceding Miami, which ranked 10th. These three cities are the only Florida cities that made the 50 Smartest Cities list.
These are Tampa’s ranking in each of the 6 Criteria:
5th in Libraries
7th in Media
14th in Public Schools
17th in Universities and Colleges
36th in Museums
40th in Education Level
Universities and Colleges in Tampa Area
Argosy University (private)
Art Institute (private)
Everest University (private)
Florida College (private)
Hillsborough Community College (state college system)
International Academy of Design & Technology (private)
Keiser University (private)
Rasmussen College (private)
Remington College (non-profit)
South University (private)
Southwest Florida College (private)
Stetson University College of Law (private)
Strayer University (private)
University of South Florida (state university system)
University of Tampa (private)
Libraries in Tampa Area
The Hillsborough County Public Library Cooperative (HCPLC) has 28 full-service locations spread out across Hillsborough. Some of these are Upper Tampa Bay Regional Public Library, Town ‘N Country Regional Public Library, New Tampa Regional Library, Southshore Regional Library, Talking Book Library and Charles J. Fendig Public Library.
It also has Bookmobile and Cybermobile facilities. The Bookmobile provides library services to people who are not able to go to library locations. The Cybermobile is a Spanish-language mobile library that offers services, including computer trainings, for free.
There are also partner locations, such as eLibraries at city and county parks and other centers like Planning Commission Resource Center, Sun City Center Library, Witt Research Center, and Children’s Services locations.
The Tampa Bay Library Consortium serves more than six million residents in Central Florida. It includes private and public libraries, operated by private and public schools, private entities and government entities. Some of these are Bruton Memorial Library, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center Biomedical Library and MacDill Base Library FL 4814, and the University of South Florida School of Library and Information Science.